The List: 23 Sep 1994 (Issue 237)

I Bryan Ferry: Mamouna (Virgin) Paul Quinn‘s dad. in his ‘last European son' guise. wanders decadent and weary. following daybreak through the backstreets of the world. ‘Mamouna' has. apparently. been some time in the pipeline. btrt now it‘s arrived it's hard to see wiry. as it sounds exactly like the record you‘d expect to hear Bryan Ferry make these days. It's always good to hear that voice purr. warble and croon. btrt there is no sense of this being a record which /I(I(/ to be made. Interest lies in Ferry‘s reunion with creepy old Dr lino. who contributes (cough) ‘sonic awareness‘ — though to no great avail. Guitars shimmer and itch and girls

from previous howls of

disgust. but if it ain't broke . . . However. the whole project is just too sprawling and not subject to enough quality control. If they'd cut out the plodding intermissions that encroach too often in the second half they could have had the Apocalypse Now they were aiming for. (Fiona Shepherd)

I David Gray: Flesh (Hut) The second album from Welsh-born David Gray starts otrt raw. fiery and accusatory. with percussive guitar work and a blistering larynx. btit lr'lt's/i is at its most sublime with the fragile heart-blood spilt over the likes of ‘Falling Free'. ‘Mystery Of Love' and ‘Coming Down'. With echoes of Luka Bloom. The \Valer‘boys. Van Morrison and Dylan. these

i CD age). American Music Club’s beautiful. gossamer ‘Goodbye To Love'. Sonic Youth being as straight as they can with the awesome ‘Superstar'. The Cranberries delivering a breathy ‘(They Long To Be) Close To You' are all marvellous. Evert Shonen Knife and 'Top OfThe World' is not the horror combination it sounds. Some disappointments: Bettie Serveert grunge up and slow down the blithe. optimistic ‘For All We Know‘ (not all Carpenters songs were baleftrl) and Babes in Toylantl rob 'Calling ()ccupants (‘)f interplanetary Craft' of its techno quirks. ()n the whole though. this is a sweet success. (Fiona Shepherd)

I Luscious Jackson: Natural Ingredients

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THE SCHUBERT ENSEMBLE

A Sparkling 53'Ute ‘0 the I In "177th Piano Quartet 0}) 97 (x

mutter exotically in another room — the sound of treading water. (Damien Love)

I The God Machine: One Last laugh In A Place Ot Dying (Fiction) The sheer ambitious scale on which The God Machine work has always been what makes them so gripping. btit also threatens to be their downfall. Maintaining their brutal edge is a real test of strength — the towering riffola. the vehemence of the vocals. the grinding rhythms are all components in their cyborg creation. all bulging veins and popping eyes. Their second album starts intensely enough — absolutely no departure

are angry. celebratory. wistful and awestruck songs crafted with an intelligent eye froin the crtrde sttrff of life —- ‘trying to spell what only the wind can explain‘. Don't light the Folk. (Damien Love)

I Various: It I Were A Carpenter (A&M) The originals of these songs are classics. and everyone on this compilation knows it. Getting today‘s alternative favourites to record Carpenters covers possibly serves to drag Richard and Karen down to the regrettable level of kitsch. but these renditions are loving and respectful (apart from 4 Non Blondes. but we can skip that. this being the

(Grand Royal) After the fly. lo-fr mini-LP In Search ()fMa/urv — sassy raps. strutting beats ~ Luscious Jackson‘s first full album is a lightweight. The same mellow funk samples and skittish grooves are in place. btrt here pressed into service over a whole. record without any backup. Backup. say. from the New York bump 'n' grind these four girls are s'posed to epitomise.

That. you‘d reckon. would add a bit of punch to the

increasingly weedy voice of Jill Cunniff and a shot of aggression to Gabrielle Glasers's guitar. As it is. the best song is ‘Deep Shag'. a hangover from Manny. (Craig McLean)

composer starring Keith Smith & Mike Pyne's Manhattan Club

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I Peter Maxwell Davies: To The Lighthouse/ Symphony No 2/Maximum Max (Collins) Anyone unfamiliar with the music but intrigued by all the attention generated by Maxwell Davies‘s ()()th birthday celebrations could do worse than check out Mari/mun Mar. :1 good sampler of what to expect from more substantial works like the opera The Light/rouse or the Symphony No 3. Both are linked by a common inspiration in the sea. and are superbly performed on these discs by the BBC Philharmonic. with Max conducdng.

I Witold lutoslavlski: Symphony No 4 (Sony) Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen has an obvious

empathy with the music of

the late Polish composer. and conducts the world premiere recording of his taut Symplrmrv No 4 with great understanding and attention to crucial musical detail. It is coupled with his earlier.

mtrch admired version of the .S‘ynrp/imrv No .i’ and l.('.\‘ [is/Hires (In SHIN/HUN. a pairing also found on a Philips re-issuc. which offers shorter measure. bill has the composer on the podium.

I Charles Ives: A Set of Pieces (US) The ()rpheus Chamber Orchestra. who operate without a conductor. could hardly have picked a more difficult assignment. They pull it off brilliantly amid even the most wildly polyphonic passages and shifting meters of Three Places In New [fire/tran or the .S’ynip/imrv No .i. and succeed equally well in exposing the translucent textural economy and grace of The Unanswered Question. The less familiar .‘l Xv! tit/’tt't‘t's and Sr: No / complete a highly recommended collection.

I Olivier Messiaen: The Complete Organ Works (Collins) Gillian Weir‘s seven-disc monument to Messiaen's fascination with the organ is a substantial achievement.

I and offers a comparable

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quality (if not quantity) to Peter Hill's celebrated complete piano sur\ ey for l'nicorn. lnevitably. the price — and maybe the instrument — will make this set a specialist purchase only. bill the hauntingly enigmatic music. beautifully recorded in Arhus Cathedral in Denmark. is consistently beguiling and original.

I Edmund Bubhra: Violin and Viola Concertos (Conifer) lingiish composer lidmuntl Rubbra ( MOI-Rh) is an undervalued figure. a point emphasised by these fine recordings from the Ri’() under Vernon llandley. with Tamsin Little as the violin soloist. and Rivka Golani on viola. llis symphonies remain his principal works. but these. while conservative in structure and vocabulary. are well worth hearing. as is Sir Charles Mackerras‘s new reCording of Flgar's Svnrp/imrv Na 2 and Sea l’n'turr'r (Argo) with this orchestra. (Kenny Mathieson)

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The f?'rnad5iirphstars of the BBC ZTV show 8: "Beethoven's Not Dead" bring dazzling comedy to classical musicll